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The Trump Era: Day 1 | Three integrally-informed friends attempt to face reality

Podcast

My colleagues Diane Hamilton and Terry Patten are here at my home, preparing for the Integral Living Room gathering which begins tomorrow. They arrived a day early, yesterday (November 8), so we could celebrate Hillary Clinton's victory together. Ha ha!

Instead we, like millions of people, are trying to come to terms with the victory of Donald Trump. Suddenly we are embarking on a new adventure together -- one that Diane, Terry and I, at least, would never have chosen.

We recorded a conversation of our process to share with you, in case it might help you make sense of things as well.

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Evolution in Culture

The evolution of masculinity in two short videos

One way we grow is to differentiate and integrate—to see aspects of ourselves that we thought were solid and final, to tease them apart into their sub-components, and to befriend them. So it is with the evolution of the culture at large.

Consider masculinity. The male ideal may still be strong, stoic and straight -- but the edifice is crumbling. Postmodern consciousness allows many more options, as we see in these videos below.

First is an ad for men’s grooming brand Axe, which gleefully explodes the stereotype of what it means to be a man. It exhorts men to “find your magic.” After all, “who needs some other thing, when you got your thing?”

The second video is a three-minute dance piece by director Bertil Nilsson, which explores the intimacy of physical interactions between three male friends on the streets of London.

–Jeff Salzman

Outspoken modern Muslim’s merciless critique of his pre-modern culture
modern muslim

Wow, this Saudi leader, Ibrahim Al-Buleihi, is a true lover of the West — and a fearless critic of muslim culture. I have to say I was surprised by a couple things in this video:

1. Apparently a muslim can can criticize their culture more freely than they can criticize their religion. Note he separates religion out of his thesis. “When we want to study a religious issue, we go back to our heritage. But when we are studying an earthly matter, such as why we are backward while others are prosperous, we must search for the answer elsewhere, not in our heritage."

2. He gives an amazing, first hand account of the mindset of a pre-modern culture: a lack of independent thought, a herd mentality and a reflexive sense of cultural superiority, the latter of which seems to be a feature of all cultures. Except for the rare exception like Al-Buleihi...

–Jeff Salzman

“You can’t trust news outlets if you want to understand the world…”

God bless Hans Rosling, cantankerous proselytizer for the upward arc of history: "I am right and you are wrong," he tells his Danish interviewer. Wish I had the nerve ...

A listener from Denmark sent me this video. He says it has has become quite popular there and has been viewed over a million times. It makes sense. The Danes have one of the highest developmental centers-of-gravity in the world.

Mature postmodernists (green altitude) are tiring of fear and doom narratives. They have adequately integrated a world-centric sensitivity to the plight of suffering beings, so they are ready to move on to the integral stage of development, which recognizes that most things are improving.

This would explain the surprising popularity of the Rosling message in Denmark. At any rate, Hans made my day.

Hans Rosling is a TED Talk favorite. Check out his best talks here.

–Jeff Salzman

Integral essay brings happiness in five minutes

Sarcasm reaches its apogee at the Green post-modern stage of cultural development. So whenever we see a work of art that includes sarcasm and transcends it with something like sincerity, there’s a good chance we’re moving out of Green and into the Integral stages of development. Thus it is with this short essay, "How to Live an Alternative Comedy Lifestyle," by Mike O’Brien in the New Yorker. I loved this piece, and when I finished reading it I noticed that I was in a heightened — and heartened — state.

Remember: “If you want it to be really hilarious, mean it."

–Jeff Salzman

“My name’s Blurryface, and I care what you think” – The 20-somethings’ lament

The song “Stressed Out” by twenty one pilots really captures the angst and self-rumination (always a bad combination) of today's postmodern 20-somethings.

These young folks are, after all, pioneering a distinct new stage on the road to adulthood, emerging adulthood, which is explored in a terrific piece in the New York Times, What Is It About 20-Somethings?:

The traditional cycle seems to have gone off course, as young people remain un­tethered to romantic partners or to permanent homes, going back to school for lack of better options, traveling, avoiding commitments, competing ferociously for unpaid internships or temporary (and often grueling) Teach for America jobs, forestalling the beginning of adult life.

Emerging adulthood is similar to the advent of adolescence at the beginning of the 20th century, when humanity became rich and sophisticated enough to accommodate, indeed require, a new life stage between childhood and adulthood.

And once again life expands, which makes further sense when we consider that today’s young people will likely live well into their 100’s.

But still ... it’s stressful being a grown man on a tricycle.

Read the lyrics to "Stressed Out" by twenty one pilots.


More stories of Evolution in the Culture→

Of Interest

New reality show features integral artist Stuart Davis (and family)!

Check out House of Davis, which follows the Davis family, comprised of singer-songwriter Stuart Davis (46), child psychotherapist Marci (47), and their daughters Ara (12) and Aja (9) as they navigate love, death, sexuality, money, health difficulties, and the various challenges of family life with love, humor and an intoxicating sense of adventure.

The Integral Living Room Workshop

An exploration of death and dying
with Ken Wilber, Diane Musho Hamilton, Terry Patten and Jeff Salzman

November 10 - 13, 2016 / Boulder / tickets available

Twitter

About integral theory

Integral theory is a school of philosophy that seeks to integrate all of human wisdom into a new, emergent worldview that is able to accommodate the gifts of all previous worldviews, including those which have been historically at odds: science and religion, eastern and western, and pre-modern, modern and post-modern.  Read more

About Jeff Salzman

I am an integralist, an evolutionary, and a public commentator who, swimming against the current of prevailing culture, is heartened by the state and future of things. It seems to me self-evident that life is animated by the power of evolution, inside and out, and that we are riding a geyser of emergence toward a sacred world. Read more

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interview

Can integral theory solve climate change and save democracy? A conversation with Alan Watkins

Podcast

In "Wicked and Wise", Alan and Ken use climate change as an example of a wicked problem. “Integral coherence”, or applying the integral map in a coherent fashion, is the essence of the solution. In the podcast, Jeff and Alan discuss climate change, the problems of globalization and democracy, getting CEO’s to do the right thing, and even Donald Trump!

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